Tears in Heaven
by animegirl336
Summary: Weird things have been happening to the DigiDestined lately. After a horrible accident, they lose one of their own.


**Authors Note: So I heard this song the other day called 'Tears in Heaven' and I thought that it would be perfect for a fanfiction. I had trouble debating over who this was going to be about, and eventually decided on making this a Tai-Kari fic with Takari in it :D. And also...is anyone else excited for 03 next spring? I know I am! Reviews are welcome and greatly appreciated!**

**THE SONG LYRICS HAVE BEEN REMOVED DUE TO COPYWRITE (i think?)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. If I did then TK would have married Kari. I don't own the song either. BTDubs! I do not own the song 'Tears in Heaven' either! Sorry. I can't write songs. I own nothing! Don't sue me!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Izzy, Tai, Davis, Yolei, TK, Cody, and Ken were all at Izzy's house. It was the only place to enter the Digital World. Something strange had been happening to all of their computers lately. Namely that when they would try to open the DigiPortal an error message would come up then the computer would shut down. The only computer that had seemed to remain working was Izzy's classic yellow/white pineapple laptop.

No one could figure out why this was happening. They had thought that all of the dangerous entity's of the Digital World had been killed or banished, but this had aroused their suspicion. At first TK and Kari had thought that maybe the portal had just been closed like it had been after the battle with Apocolymon. They started getting suspicious after they learned that the same thing had been happening to everyone else.

They had all congregated at Izzy's house for a meeting. They hadn't told any of the older DigiDestined about it yet. Except Izzy that is. They didn't want them involved quite yet. In case it was a false alarm, or just a weird computer failure. The older DigiDestined all had their own lives. They were in high school now, not middle school.

After telling Izzy their situation he told them not to worry; that he would work on it. They all obeyed Izzy as he was the smartest and knew the most about the Digital World than anyone in the room, even TK and Kari. They waited had waited patiently for what seemed like forever for news on what the hell was going on. Unfortunately waiting patiently did not make the weird occurrences stop.

Not in the least.

Before this had started happening they had left their Digimon in the Digital World for a while. A decision that they had all started regretting. So now they had no one to protect them they got worried and paranoid. They would be sleeping or walking down the street when a migraine would hit. Or they would feel light headed and nearly faint. A couple times they did. None of this was reported to Izzy though. No body had muttered a word to any of the older DigiDestined. Only each other.

In hind sight, Tai should have seen it, noticed something, _anything._ If he had, then maybe he could have prevented what had happened. Maybe she would still be with them if he could have noticed. He blamed it on himself. Now he had insisted on helping, much to the younger kids disliking. It took much convincing to get them to agree, and even now they were skeptical. They didn't want to involve anyone in case something happened. But Tai had stood his ground.

Now here they were, the seven of them standing in Izzy's room with medical supplies at the ready. There was silence in the room, nobody wanted to be the first to go in. Not after what happened to Kari. They stood there looking at the desktop in Izzy's room. The air was thick with tension.

"Well one of us has to be first." Tai said, breaking the silence. They all took a sudden interest in their shoes. "Any volunteers?" No one jumped at the chance. Hesitantly TK stepped forward. Very unexpected. If anyone was anywhere near as distressed and guilty about Kari's death it was TK. They were all grieving her of course, but Tai was her brother (who she was extremely close to) and TK was her best friend since they were eight. Although most of them assumed that it was only a matter of time before it evolved into something more, that wasn't an option now. Both were almost driven mad with grief.

That was why it was such a surprise when TK stepped forward. He was not one to take loss or grief so lightly. It had always affected him greatly, though he rarely showed it. No one could beat him in a fake out – except possibly Cody. They were masters at not showing their feelings. Taking second place would be Ken. He used to be tied with Kari, though now it's just him.

TK took a deep breath and looked at Tai.

"I'm ready." he told the brunette.

"You don't have to TK. I'll be glad to -"

"No." TK interrupted. "Really. It's no problem at all!" TK said with a big grin on his face. He was really good. He stepped up to the computer, all eyes staring right at him. He could feel his friends piercing gazes behind him. He took his D3 out of his sweatshirt pocket and held it up in front of the screen. He tried to steady his shaking hand but his attempts only made it shake harder. He gave up his attempts and took one last deep breath before saying the words firmly.

"DigiPort Open!" he very nearly yelled. Everyone held their breath, hoping that the DigiPortal wouldn't take another of their lives. The screen on the computer glowed bright and TK was sucked into it. So far so good. But this was the moment of truth. They waited one second, two, three. Still no sounds of explosions. Taking this as a good sign they all exhaled and waited for TK to return. They made themselves comfortable figuring that he may take a few minutes. With all the weird stuff going on who knew where he might land.

They waited and waited for TK to return. After an hour and a half Tai figured that enough was enough.

"I'm going in." Tai announced standing up.

"Are you sure Tai?" Cody asked. It was a well known fact among the younger DigiDestined that since the accident with Kari happened, Tai was terrified of the DigiPortals. Even though he had been through them several times before what happened to Kari had made them all terrified to go in. Tai could remember the day it had happened.

_~Flashback~_

Tai was at soccer practice. They had a big game that night so they started practice an hour early. Meaning that Tai got to miss the last two periods of the school day. He was dribbling the ball down the field when his DTerminal started beeping from his bag. He always had his Digivice and DTerminal wherever he went, although it would have helped to put it on silent. He ignored it as he kicked the ball towards the goal. The ball made it in. The goalie had just missed it. Tai's team came over to congratulate him on the amazing kick when his cell phone started ringing.

_'Whoever is calling really wants to talk to me!'_ Tai thought slightly irritated.

"Kamiya! Answer whoever is trying to contact you so bad! It had better be very important!" his coach scolded him. Tai nodded his head respectfully.

"Yes coach." Tai picked out his phone from his book bag. One missed call. Tai noted that it was Davis' number. He checked his DTerminal. He mentally guessed who it was. Yup, it had been Davis. Tai dialed Davis' number. He picked up on the first ring.

"Tai? Oh god Tai!" Davis was panicking and from the sounds of it on the verge of a breakdown. Tai got worried. Something was wrong.

"Make the phone call quick Kamiya!" his coach yelled at him.

"I will coach!" Tai yelled back before returning to Davis.

"What happened?" Tai asked, cutting to the chase.

"It's horrible! She went in and didn't come out. We heard explosions and then she came out but..." Davis' voice trailed off. Tai could hear voices in the background but he couldn't identify them or make out what they were saying. Tai got more worried. Something had happened. Someone was hurt. But who?

_'Davis said that "she went in". So...it had to be one of the girls. But where did they go into? And why was the building bombed?' _Tai thought as he waited for someone on the other end to speak. After a couple of minutes his coach got really annoyed.

"Kamiya! How long is this going to take?" his coach yelled. Some of his team mates looked over with angry expressions. He was gunna get major hate for this phone call.

"Not sure coach! But it's an emergency!" Tai replied. At that the coach nodded and returned his attention to the rest of the team. Finally a voice spoke up at the other end of the line.

"You still there Tai?" the voice didn't belong to Davis though. No. This was Izzy's voice. But it was different. His normal voice – smart, firm, and always sure of what he was saying – was replaced by a broken, empty voice. Something serious had just gone down.

"Yeah, I'm still here Izzy. Where's Davis?" Tai asked.

"He's cooling off. He needed a break. He just...couldn't say it aloud." Izzy informed him. He sounded almost scared to talk. Not an Izzy thing to do.

"What happened?" Tai repeated to Izzy. He heard mumbling on the other end of the line before Izzy replied.

"I have permission to tell you everything Tai. That is, if you think you can handle it." Izzy said to him. Tai had moved on from scared to full blown terror.

_'What if I can't handle it?'_ Tai thought, then pushed the thought away.

"I think I can handle it Izzy." Tai stated in his leader voice that he was so accustomed to using.

"Okay then. Here is the whole story. You might want to sit down." Izzy warned him. Tai brushed it off and let Izzy continue.

"Strange things have been happening Tai. For the past few weeks actually." Izzy was trying to fake it so bad. He was struggling and Tai can tell. That is what good leaders do. "The younger kids have been trying to get into the Digital World."

_'Why didn't Kari tell me?'_ Tai thought.

"But the DigiPortals wouldn't open. Not even to the D3s. So they asked me for help and made me promise not to tell anyone until now." Tai heard Izzy take a deep breath then heard someone else call out "Hurry Izzy!"

"I'll tell you later Tai. For now...just get down to the hospital as quick as you can!" Izzy told him. He was shocked.

"Who's in the hospital?" Tai asked, afraid of what the answer may be.

"It's Kari, Tai." Izzy said, then hung up. It took Tai a moment to let those words sink in.

_'Just get down to the hospital as quick as you can...it's Kari...it's Kari...Kari is in the hospital!'_ Tai realized. He had moved on from terror to utter horror. _'Not again!'_ he thought. He stuffed his phone and DTerminal into his bag, packed up his soccer gear and turned to leave.

"And where do you think you're going, Kamiya?" his coach asked. Tai growled and turned around.

"I gotta go coach!" Tai said, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"And why would that be? We have the biggest game of the year tonight!" his coach argued. Tai had no time to deal with his coach. He turned and ran off, aware of the serious consequences of his actions. He would explain later.

Once at the hospital, he found in the waiting room all of the younger kids, TK, and Izzy. When Tai entered, they all looked in his direction. All looking broken. Tai could barely stand to look at what used to be the new generation of DigiDestined! They used to be so brave and full of energy. But now they looked almost dead.

"Where is she?" was all Tai could say. There was nothing else to say.

"In her room. 16A." Ken told him. It was obvious that the boy was holding back tears. Others were not so lucky. Yolei was sobbing into her lap, TK had a few tears streaming down his face, and Davis was teary eyed but not yet crying. Ken and Cody held their ground. Tai dropped his bags on the ground next to Izzy and took off. The nurse at the entrance barely paid any mind to him, knowing why he was here. She merely pointed him in the right direction. He ran down the hallways. All white. Doctors with sterile tools and the smell of medicine made him uncomfortable. He hated hospitals. He finally reached the room. 16A. He opened the door after a moments hesitation. Inside was not a sight that he wanted to see.

On the hospital bed in room 16A was a battered form of Kari. He couldn't help but gasp when he saw her. She had long gashes all over her body. Her face had dried blood on it. Her hair was smoldered and a lot shorter than it was earlier that day. But that wasn't the worst part. She was missing the bottom half of her right leg. Tears threatened to slip down Tai's face, but he wouldn't let them. He went over to her bed and sat down next to it.

"Tai?" he heard her mutter through the oxygen mask that she was wearing.

"Yes Kari. I'm here. I'm here." he said trying to reassure her.

"Am I okay Tai? What happened?" Kari asked, clearly struggling. But that was Kari for ya. I fighter until the very end.

"I don't know the details Kari. All I know is that you tried to enter the Digital World and something very bad happened." The tears started leaking through the dam, "And no Kari, you aren't okay. You were hurt very, very badly." Tai told her. Doing his absolute best to remain strong.

"Really? I'm so sorry." Kari apologized.

_'What is she apologizing for?'_ Tai thought.

"There is no need to be sorry. It wasn't your fault." He told her. The tears were coming, but the dam had yet to burst.

"I see that you came from soccer. Thanks Tai, it means a lot too me." she told him, commenting on his strange attire. Tai smirked.

"You're welcome Kari. It was no biggie. Why wouldn't I come?" he joked.

"Am I going to..." she attempted to gulp and it only slightly worked. "die?" she muttered barely audibly.

"Yes Kari...you will...you..." Tai couldn't continue. He found out why Davis couldn't say it out loud. It made the reality all too true.

"If I do Tai, I want to say I'm so sorry for not telling you about any of this." Kari said. Tai could see her slipping. "Tell everyone that I'm sorry and that I'll watch them all from heaven. I love you Tai." she said and closed her eyes, giving in.

"I love you too Kari." Tai said. Kari flat-lined. The dam burst and Tai collapsed onto the floor. He was on his hands and knees. His world just fell apart. Something had taken his little sister away from him. The doctor came in and told him to leave. Tai got up, nodded, kissed Kari's forehead an hugged her one last time before leaving. When he got back to the waiting room, the faces that he could _barely_ stand before he could _not_ stand now. He broke down in the middle of the hospital.

Some people gave him strange looks, others looked at him with sympathy. Tai didn't notice any of this.

With their leader broken down, the rest couldn't hold back. Cody allowed a few tears to slip down, Izzy put away his laptop and cried into his hands, Ken turned his head into the chair to cry, Davis fell to the floor along with TK and cried into their knees or just into the floor. They were eventually asked to leave, but the tears never ceased on the walk home.

_~Present Day~_

Tai later found out the details of what had happened throughout those few weeks, and blamed himself. He had almost lost Kari once because of his ignorance and was not allowed a second miracle.

"Yes Izzy, I'm sure." he told Izzy taking a deep breath. No body had come out so TK was either still in there or he made it to the Digital World.

They had yet to tell the other older DigiDestined about Kari's passing. Tai had yet to return to soccer practice. The whole incident had happened two months prior and still no older kids (except Tai and Izzy) knew. And this was the first attempt at entering since. The invites to Kari's funeral were to be sent out that day. Everyone would know soon enough. For now though, Tai had to make it through. He was about to hold up his Digivice to enter the opened portal when TK came out and landed on him.

"Umph!" Tai let out as the younger blonde boy landed on top of him, resulting with Tai on the ground. "Welcome back TK." Tai said he helped the younger boy up. TK just nodded. Although two months had passed the wound was still so knew and so raw. They avoided bringing up Kari at all these days. "How'd it go?" Tai asked. TK just looked at Tai, then to the ground. He got part of the message.

"Gatomon asked about..." Tai paused. "Didn't she?" the name was never spoken. TK nodded, not needing the name mentioned to understand. "You couldn't tell her...could you?" Tai asked him. TK shook his head. No one blamed him either. She would know soon enough.

"That wasn't all was it?" Ken asked, speaking up for the first time that day. Again, TK shook his head. No one pressured him into talking about it.

* * *

The day had finally arrived. The funeral. Everyone was now aware of their friend's passing. They all comforted Tai. He was definitely taking this the hardest. They gave him hugs and pats on the back. Supportive words and even a few presents. All of her friends were there. Some of them he had never even met. If Tai had to guess, nearly her whole grade level and more were here. It was as if she was famous. Oh yeah. She was. There was a camera crew and everything. Tai's parents were trying to get them to go away but it wasn't working very well.

It shouldn't have surprised him, the number of people that showed up. But it did. Some of these kids were people – who after talking to upon them entering – he found out were from Highton View Terrace. They had just lost touch after the "terrorist bombing". Luckily, the DigiDestined and family had a reserved set of chairs at the front. Even though Tai wanted to be at the back.

He didn't want to be there at all in all honesty. He just wanted to go home. Go home and open the door to find Kari sitting on the couch on the phone, emailing on the DTerminal, or playing with Gatomon.

But those days were over.

Just the thought of it brought Tai to tears. More pity glances aimed towards him. He didn't want their pity. Didn't need it. But didn't have the courage to yell at them. Just like he didn't have the courage to admit that his little sister was gone forever. She couldn't be reborn to a DigiEgg like Patamon was. She was only human. Whatever darkness had taken her had won.

Courage was lost.

Light was snuffed out.

Hope was diminished.

What _was_ keeping him there anyways? He didn't want to be here, and there were definitely enough people so that if one was missing, no one would notice. The idea was so tempting. I took all he had not to just sprint away right now, while people would still be coming. Hide in the crowd and sneak away. But he just couldn't do it. Something was keeping him there. And that one thing was Kari.

If he left it would be disrespectful. And the last thing that he would want to do to his late sister. Tai sucked it up and took his seat, not in the mood to greet anyone else. All of the black was depressing him. That made Tai stick out like a sore thumb. He was wearing all pink, in honor of Kari and her crest of light which was pink. Not to mention that it was her favorite color. He had even bought a new pair of goggles for the occasion. They were also pink.

Soon the funeral had actually started. Tai didn't listen though. Couldn't. His mind wasn't focused enough. It was everywhere. Part of it way paying attention to the funeral, and the other was drifting far away. He started to think of what it would be like to be in heaven. Carefree? Peaceful? Do you keep the memories of your lifetime? Or forget everything and everyone that you cared for? Tai wouldn't know until his time came. He wished that it would be right there right then.

As the preacher kept speaking, Tai's thoughts drifted farther and farther away from the current events. He recalled the time when he and Kari were young. Kari was sick, but Tai was young and ignorant. He made her go play soccer in the park with him. She couldn't kick the ball right and he got angry and scolded her for it. He went and fetched the ball. When he looked back up so was on the ground, unconscious. He freaked. She had to go to the hospital. They didn't know if she would make it out alive. Luckily, she did. When he saw her in the hospital he had made a promise to himself.

_'I had promised that I would protect her, no matter what the cost.'_ Tai thought as the preacher spoke. Tai had kept that promise live and well for years. Now he felt that he had broken his promise. The guilt was overwhelming. He started shaking as held back as many tears as he could, and still they leaked through.

Eventually he had to snap back into reality when his name was called. Time to give his speech. He slowly got out of his seat and walked up to the pedestal. He didn't have it written down or planned out. He knew from his many years as leader of a team - that had to save the world several times over - that if the words needed to be said, he would find a way to say them.

He scanned the crowd. From the back forward (looking from the stage out), several rows had people from her school. They were teary eyed but most were not crying. Only a few of her close friends from when she was younger were shedding tears. Just those people made up the whole left half and two-thirds of the right half. The other third of the right half way made up of the DigiDestined and Tai's parents.

Every single one of the DigiDestined were crying. It was almost pitiful how such a strong team was brought so down by one death. Kari's best friend, Yolei, had her glasses off and was crying. Ken was attempting to comfort her, but he himself was also crying. Even Cody had let his guard down for the first time since he had met the boy.

_'Must be with everyone here Cody just didn't feel like he'd be judged. No need to have a poker face when everyone else face is just like yours.'_ Tai thought.

TK wasn't even looking a the stage. He had his knees bent and his head in his knees. He also wasn't in a chair, but in the grass next to the chairs. Davis was next to him. He was rubbing TK's back. Davis loved Kari as much as TK did. Joe had his glasses off as well and just looked up at Tai. Mimi had a hand over her mouth as she cried. Izzy held her in a tight embrace as tears slipped down his face as well. Sora had her lips curled into her mouth and her face towards the ground. She had grown really close to Kari. Matt had tears streaming down his cheeks almost as badly as TK did. He put his arms around her and held her. She cried into his chest. None of the Digimon were there. They were going to have their own mini funeral in the Digital World once Tai had enough courage to tell them about Kari's passing.

Tai took a deep breath and began his speech.

"Hello everyone. Thanks for coming today. Kari was such a great girl. I know that her sudden death was a shock. And I'm sorry that we did not give a reason for it. I promise it'll come. Now is not the right time." Tai paused to collect his thoughts and then continued. "I've begun to wonder what it's like. Up in heaven ya know. Like, do you remember everyone from your lifetime? Or do you forget and start all over. Do you change? Become a whole new person?"

"Lately I've been wondering...would it be better if I had with her. I wonder to myself 'why doesn't my time just come right here right now just end me I want to be with my sister'." Surprised gasps from some of the crowd, others just cried more. "But then I think of what she would want me to do. Kari would want me to carry on with my life. Live it to it's fullest extent. It's not my time yet. I don't belong in heaven quite." Tai said as he smirked through his tears. "If I was up there, I wonder how she would treat me. I wonder if she would support me."

"If I could visit her I know I would and I you all would too. She was a great girl who saw the best in everyone. She always found a way to see the good in people. Even if we couldn't see it. Of course we couldn't stay if we visited her." Tai scanned the crowd as he took yet another deep breath. "The concept of time is different for everyone. To some people time passes to quickly and for others it seems to never end. For some time crushes their dreams and others it brings their dreams to life."

"One thing is for sure. Kari is happy wherever she is in heaven. It is a calm, peaceful, stress free, paradise. She won't have to ever shed anymore tears because of anger, pain, or hurt." Tai's voice cracked badly on that last word. Kari would never have a boyfriend.

"When she was dying in the hospital. She told me to tell you guys that she is sorry. For what...I'm not sure. She also said that she will be watching us from heaven. She loves you all very much and she didn't die in vain. I promise you all that I will find whoever hurt my innocent little sister and make sure they don't hurt anyone ever again." Tai said angrily. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his pink jacket that was around his waist. He didn't care that it made him look like an idiot. "Thank you all." Tai said. He bowed and went back to his seat next to Matt.

* * *

**Authors Note: So how was it? Please review I worked real hard on it. Most of it was written early in the morning so I hope it's good! I would love to know how you guys liked it! I always get nervous when I write One-Shots. :D**

**~animegirl336**


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